Chapter 4 – The Bedroom That Was Missing
Ruth called while Maya was settling onto Elena’s spare bed.
“The room looks wonderful,” she told Nate. “I don’t know why you’re making this difficult.”
Maya held out her hand for the phone. Nate gave it to her and sat nearby.
“Where was Eli going to sleep?” she asked.
“We’ve discussed this.”
“Then tell me.”
Ruth sighed as though Maya were asking her to repeat a recipe.
“Ray has room. Boys that age enjoy being with their grandfathers. You’ll be resting. Nate will be working. There will be a baby soon.”
“The baby isn’t due for ten weeks.”
“And you shouldn’t be lifting things or chasing a six-year-old.”
Eli sat on the rug across the room, fitting the dinosaurs back into his box. Elena was helping him find the pieces that had fallen beneath the flap. He could not hear Ruth, but Maya lowered her voice anyway.
“You offered us two bedrooms.”
“One for you and Nate. One for the baby.”
“Where is the room you said Eli could use?”
Ruth did not answer immediately.
“There’s a sofa bed if it’s absolutely necessary.”
Maya looked at the photograph of the nursery again. The furniture was new. Even the little lamp matched the curtains. Ruth had found time to choose all of it, while apparently leaving Eli’s bed as a problem to solve later.
Nate leaned toward the phone.
“Mom, I asked about his room last week. You said it was ready.”
“It was going to work itself out.”
“By sending him away?”
“Don’t say it like that.”
Elena took Eli into the kitchen to choose a movie. Maya waited until the door had swung closed before speaking again.
“You booked his things for another town. You told him we agreed. When I asked what was happening, you pushed me.”
“I lost my temper. You were blocking the doorway.”
“Yes,” Maya said. “I was standing between you and my son’s belongings.”
There was a long silence. Then Ruth changed her voice.
“Come over tonight. We’ll put a mattress somewhere. Nobody needs to know what an awful day this has been.”
Maya looked toward Nate. He nodded once, letting her finish her own answer.
“We aren’t coming tonight.”
“You can’t stay with Elena forever.”
“We aren’t asking to.”
After the call, Nate arranged for the moving company to return the few boxes already loaded. The furniture stayed covered in the dry part of the house while they made a new plan. Ruth had paid a deposit; any additional charge would be settled after they received the actual bill.
There would be no delivery to either address that day.
Maya called her father to reassure him that the medical checks had been reassuring. He asked if he could visit the next morning, bringing the old air mattress Nate could use instead of Elena’s short sofa.
“Of course,” she said.
“And Maya? Ruth just sent me another message.”
“What message?”
Ray read it aloud.
I’ll send his school things too. It will be easier if he stays until after the baby comes.
Maya sat very still.
A weekend had become a stay with no clear end.